Toft, Lincolnshire

Toft
Cornfield, behind hedgerow and two wooden 5-bar gates. The wheat is suffused with poppies. The picture is framed by tall tees in the hedgerow on either side of the gate, and woodland beyond the field. A blue sky dotted with fluffy white clouds looks over everything.
Field in Toft
Tunnel mouth and retaining walls in blue engineering brick, surrounded by trees and vegetation. The dark entrance is blocked by a fence of vertical metal palings with pointed tops.
Eastern portal of Toft Tunnel[1]
Toft is located in Lincolnshire
Toft
Toft
Location within Lincolnshire
Population333 (2011)
OS grid referenceTF069172
• London90 mi (140 km) S
Civil parish
  • Toft with Lound and Manthorpe
District
Shire county
Region
CountryEngland
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
Post townBourne
Postcode districtPE10
Dialling code01778
PoliceLincolnshire
FireLincolnshire
AmbulanceEast Midlands
UK Parliament
List of places
UK
England
Lincolnshire
52°44′32″N 0°24′54″W / 52.7423°N 0.4151°W / 52.7423; -0.4151

Toft is a small village in the South Kesteven district of Lincolnshire, England. It is situated approximately 2 miles (3 km) south-west from Bourne on the A6121. Toft is part of the civil parish of Toft with Lound and Manthorpe.[2] The population of the civil parish at the 2011 census was 333.[3]

The village gave its name to the Toft Tunnel on the former Midland and Great Northern Joint Railway (closed in 1959), which ran about 1 mile (1.6 km) to the north. This was the only tunnel on that railway, which ran for the most part over the Fens. The tunnel is actually in Lound, though still in the parish. It is now managed as a nature reserve[4]

Toft Hotel Golf Course is on the southern edge of the village. The East Glen river flows through the village, also to the south.

The north of the parish includes the deserted medieval village of Bowthorpe, now a single farm, which gives its name to the Bowthorpe Oak.[5] Although there is no church today, some books about the history of Crowland Abbey say that the patronage of the church in Toft was gifted to the Abbey on the occasion of the start of its re-build in 1113 following the devastating fire of 1091.

References

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  1. ^ Squires, Stewart; Hollamby, Ken, eds. (2009). Building a Railway: Bourne to Saxby. Lincoln Record Society. ISBN 978-0-9015038-62.
  2. ^ "Toft cum Lound and Manthorpe". Lincolnshire Parish Councils | South Kesteven. Lincolnshire county council. Retrieved 20 May 2013.
  3. ^ "Civil Parish population 2011". Neighbourhood Statistics. Offuice for National Statistics. Retrieved 23 May 2016.
  4. ^ Smith, Jonathan (1997). "A short history of Toft Tunnel". LWT Nature Reserves. Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust. Archived from the original on 23 April 2013. Retrieved 20 May 2013.
  5. ^ Historic England. "Bowthorpe (348176)". Research records (formerly PastScape). Retrieved 20 May 2013.
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